Pardon the Interruption...Again

Hi folks. I'm in the process of migrating this little blog to a new host. I'll be back up and running on Monday. You won't need to do anything differently to get there - you'll be redirected automatically when you type in: dailycynema.com.

Have a great weekend!

Snow Slide

What do you do when you have too much time and too much snow on your hands? Well, if you're my husband, you build a snow slide for your 4-year-old to fly down on his own so that you can shovel the road in peace. Here is the view from the top of the slide looking down.

Yes, the slide ends a mere 5 feet from the edge of our yard before plunging into a deep ravine that ends in a frozen creek. You can tell that this slide was constructing without the presence of one paranoid, over-protective mother to veto the design. In the Irishman's defense, he was the first one to go down it to make sure that the wall he constructed at the end of the slide would stop his weight. Here is Parker's descent down the slide.

Did I mention that they built in a ramp to launch off of?

And finally, the side view of the ramp.

I may be going out of my mind at the utter lack of anything resembling a regular schedule, but I'm certain that the boys will think back on the winter of snow and mayhem fondly.

Winter Wonderland: Edition #1,286

When I insisted that we head out for the day yesterday to stock up on provisions and preempt our cabin fever, my husband thought that I was overreacting. He thought we might get a couple of inches, but he went to sleep last night with every intention of heading into work this morning as regularly scheduled. In fact, he even showered and dressed this morning before he even bothered to look outside.

Hahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahhahaha.

I heard his exclamation of shock and dismay while I was still tucked warmly beneath my down comforter. I smiled smugly to myself and suggested he make use of his already dressed and showered state and start shoveling.

Then, I laid in bed quietly for another 23 seconds before Parker came in for his daily snuggle.

After internally gloating for another 10 minutes (snuggled warmly with Parker), I headed to the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast. I decided on Denver omelets accompanied by biscuits and gravy. It was the least I could do for my beleaguered husband who is probably going to spend the better part of the day digging us out from under the 12+ inches of snow while I take pictures from the coziness of central heat. Sometimes, being pregnant has some serious perks.

Feta Leek Quiche

My mother brought this recipe back from Greece with her and we tried it for the first time during her last visit. The feta and leeks were a delicious combination and it was much lighter in consistency than a traditional quiche, which I really enjoyed. This was very easy to make and you don't even need to bother with a crust, which reduces both the hassle and the calories. Bonus, right?

Here what you need:

3-4 leeks (discard hard outer leaves and slice thinly)

1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Heat your olive oil over a large saucepan and add in your sliced leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Saute them until they're transparent, about 8-10 minutes or so.

While the leeks are cooking, beat your eggs with your milk. Once combined, add in the flour, 1/2 tsp. of salt and another Tbs. of olive oil.

Once your leeks are done cooking and your egg/milk mixture is thoroughly combined, oil a pie plate so that your quiche doesn't stick. First, add your leeks into the pie plate. Then, spread the crumbled feta on top. Finally, pour your egg/milk mixture over the top.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the quiche comes out clean. Cut and serve when it's done. Enjoy!

Our Nintendo Wii: A Second Life

We've had a Nintendo Wii for over 3 years now, but strangely enough, it hadn't gotten any serious use until last month when we were snowed in for about 10 days total. Aside from sledding and causing a general ruckus, we were desperate for Parker to burn some energy.

*Enter the Wii*

With Wii Sports and the Wii Fit (game and balance board), there were a ton of games that we could now play with Parker. One of my favorites for Parker is the running exercise where he has to run in place for a whopping 10 minutes (which is an eternity for a 4 year old). It's easy to do and it's pretty much the equivalent of doing 10 minutes of jumping jacks. It seriously wore him out!

When he got bored with the Sports and Fit games, he and the Irishman would play a Star Wars lightsaber game where they would try to "put to sleep" the bad guys. I'm not comfortable with killing games, so in Parker's world, the saber's were set to "stun" not "kill." Or something like that.

Lest you think that the Wii is only for kids, I have actually been using it for a couple of weeks now to supplement my gym workouts. My tactic is adding a pair of 10-lb. dumbbells to all of the strength and aerobic exercises available for the Wii Fit game. It's a nice morning workout and I can squeeze it in before classes in less time than it would take me to drive to the gym and back.

This weekend, I'm going to check out what other "games" are available for the Wii to see how we can maximize it's use. After lying dormant for 3 years, I'm happy to say that our Wii was a smart purchase after all.

Fried Pickles

All I can say is Lord help me for knowing how to make these. My fried pickle eating days go back to my time at Florida State when I would frequent a restaurant there that made absolutely the best fried pickles. They came with a homemade honey mustard dipping sauce that was heavenly and I would often polish off the entire basket (with help of course) and leave there craving more.

Since we've moved away from Tallahassee, fried pickles have found their place onto my "I miss..." list. Naturally, I realized that I'll just simply need to learn to make them myself. Luckily for me, one of my sorority sisters used to work at the restaurant and passed along the honey mustard recipe (yippee!) and I got a recipe for the batter from foodtv.com. The final verdict? Total success. Here's how you make these little bites of fried heaven.

Homemade honey mustard:

2 parts mayo

1 part dijon mustard (recommended Zatarans creole mustard)

honey to taste (we added just under a tablespoon)

Egg wash:

1 cup milk

1 egg

dash of dill

dash of lemon pepper

pickle juice to taste (about 1 Tbs.)

Breading:

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

1 Tbs. dill

1 Tbs. lemon pepper

1-2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. garlic salt

First, buy a jar of refrigerated pickles. We used Claussen kosher dill. I think that the refrigerated pickles have a better crunch and a much better flavor. Go ahead and make your honey mustard so that the flavors have a chance to meld.

Next, make an assembly line of pickles, egg wash (ingredients whisked together) and breading (ingredients mixed well).

Grab a deep skillet and heat vegetable or canola oil on high. To find out if the oil is hot enough, I usually drop in a small piece of bread to see if it sizzles right away.

Once the oil is ready, dip the pickle into egg wash and then into the breading. Gently shake loose any excess breading and slowly drop the pickle into the oil. Cook your pickles in batches and fry until they are a nice golden brown.

Have a paper towel lined plate ready nearby to soak up the excess oil and serve immediately after their done. Then take a bite and mentally thank the good people of the South for coming up with the idea of frying everything in sight.

New Year's Resolution: Be More Self-Reliant

I'm generally not a fan of vague New Year's resolutions like lose weight, be more patient, love thy neighbors... I generally favor something more concrete, like training for a new race or making it to a new travel destination by summer. I like goals that I can write down on my calendar and put a big, fat check mark next to when they're done.

This year, I'm trying something a little bit different. A bit more functional. My goal for 2011 is to be more self-reliant in general. My default setting for my entire life has been that if something is not perfect, either replace it or pay someone else to fix it. Well, now that we live one county over from the middle of nowhere, that isn't always an option, so I've had to learn to adapt without every store in creation being a stone's throw from my house. In adapting, I've learned that I'm way too reliant on services and modern technologies. I mean, heck, I couldn't even build a proper fire until last year! For all intents and purposes, we need to live like we're in the wilderness because when we're snowed in, we're often stuck at our house a week at a time and if we lose power, there isn't a utility truck around that can make it up to us before the snow clears.

I'm sure that most of you think that we're probably crazy for picking a house this inaccessible, but for us, it's an adventure. I feel like I'm living in an 1800s historical novel at times (with a dishwasher and central heat, of course). Perhaps, that's what has brought this on. The need to feel like I could survive with only my own manpower and the knowledge that I have. So, here are some concrete goals for 2011:

1. Make as many clothes for the baby girl as I can. It's fun and it makes me feel useful. Plus, once I figure out making clothes on a smaller-scale, perhaps I can start designing stuff for myself. Who needs a mall when you can make whatever it is that you want? I'll leave the big stuff like trousers and jeans to the pros, but I'm sure that I can handle dresses and tops with a bit of practice.

2. Take survival classes. Just up the road from us, a couple runs a business that teaches you about backpacking through the mountains and learning about the different plants and herbs in the region. This seems eminently practical when we live on 6 acres of steep mountain country.

3. Become more in tune with nature. We live in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful areas of the country and I have YET to break out my hiking boots. What gives? We need to hike, kayak and mountain bike our way through the mountains. The first purchase towards this goal will be a backpack for baby girl to ride in.

4. Get camping. This goes along with #3, but my husband used to go camping all the time as a kid and has wonderful, fond memories of roasting marshmallows and cooking breakfast over an open fire. Of course, we'll pick campsites with hot showers to help me ease into the process of wilderness woman, but part of the reason that we moved here is so Parker didn't have to grow up in an urban jungle like we did.

5. Plant a spring garden. We have perfect soil here for gardening and 1 acre of terraced land that was build with the sole purpose of harboring a vegetable garden. If I get with the program, we should be able grow all of the produce that we need for the summer months.

Well, I think that's about it for concrete goals. Hopefully, I haven't totally lost my mind, but if I have, that would be par for the course.

Vasilopita - A New Year's Eve Tradition

If you've been reading this little blog for any time at all, you'll know that Greeks are sticklers for their holiday traditions. Naturally, our New Year's Eve tradition involves food - specifically, you bake a vasilopita, which is a sweet bread baked into a round shape. We also make tsoureki (the same type of bread) at Easter.

Below is the email that my mom sent me with my Yiayia Vaso's recipe included. This same recipe has been in my family for at least a hundred years (but knowing Greeks, it's probably been around for two or three centuries longer than that).

Yiayia Vaso came to stay with us in Washington D.C. in 1975. That Easter, she wanted to adapt her tsourekia recipe so she can use our brand new Black and Decker mixer instead of mixing the ingredients by hand. I made this recipe for the first time when you were a few months old. By then, she would rather occupy you and Dean than cook. I wrote the recipe on an index card (I still have it) and I have been making her tsourekia ever since.

1 ½ cup milk
2 sticks sweet butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 envelopes yeast
6 eggs + 2 extra egg whites (reserve the yolks)
1 orange the juice and rind
5 lbs – ¾ cup flour

Warm milk until comfortable to the touch (about 110 degrees). Pour milk in a large container and stir in the yeast plus 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 cups of flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.

Cover with plastic wrap, and put in a warm place (I put it in the cold oven with the oven light on) for the yeast to rise. When mixture is bubbly it is done. Set aside for now.

In your mixer, beat eggs with sugar until light and fluffy (about 10 minutes). The mixture should be a very pale yellow.

Melt butter and add it slowly to the egg mixture.

Add orange juice and orange rind and continue to mix for another 5 minutes.

In the meantime the yeast mixture should be ready.

Slowly add the egg/sugar/orange juice mix to the yeast mixture and stir with the wooden spoon. Add the flour one cup at a time and continue to mix with the spoon.

When mixture become difficult to mix with the spoon, use your hands to knead the batter.

Continue to add flour until batter is firm and well mixed and not sticky. Usually, between 8 and 9 cups does the trick. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel on top and set aside (in the oven if you like, but turn off the light this time).

**Since it is downright cold in North Carolina, I had to turn my oven on to 200 degrees for 5 minutes. I then turned off the oven, wrapped my dough in a clean garbage bag (to keep out the air) and covered it with towels to hold in the heat. Without doing this, my dough simply would not rise.

When the batter is double in size (after about 1 hour) it is ready for your to shape it into loaves.

Take a handful of the dough and dust it with a little flour. (I took the above picture after I had sprinkled flour on the entire bowl of dough). Fold it into a ball for the vasilopita.

The remainder of the batter can either be braided or simply rolled into an oblong oval and put into loaf pans. After your vasilopita is shaped, wash a quarter, wrap it in a piece of foil and tuck it into the loaf, making sure to cover the spot where it was inserted. I'll explain this part of the tradition in a bit.

Cover the bread and set aside until they are double in size. Prior to baking, combine your leftover yolk with a tablespoon of milk to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the top of the loaves to add a nice shine to the finished product. Bake in preheated oven at 325 for about 45-50 minutes.

To finish off the vasilopita, write out the new year (2011) with almonds and sprinkle the bread with powdered sugar.

At midnight, cut pie-shaped slices out of your vasilopita and designate each slice to a member of the family (starting with the eldest). After you've run our of family members, you can assign slices to the house, your career, distant family, etc... until you've sliced the entire loaf. Whichever slice ends up with the quarter has good luck and prosperity for the entire year.

Happy New Year everyone! Whether I win the coin or not, I know that 2011 is going to be a wonderful year for us all.

Revani

Today, we're making Revani, which is a simple syrup infused cake and unbelievably simple to make. Let's get started.

We need:

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn oil

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 cup cream of wheat

1/4 cup orange juice

3 teaspoons baking powder

zest of 1 lemon

dash of cinnamon

(for the simple syrup)

1.5 cups sugar

2 cups water

1/4 chunk of lemon

First, separate your eggs.

(Notice that Parker is mixing his own batch of "cookies". My mom and I just kept throwing random stuff in there to keep him occupied. We almost died when he tasted it and said, "Mmmmm"!)

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.

Now, beat your egg yolks with the sugar and slowly add in your other ingredients (wet ingredients first- oil, milk, OJ- and then the flour, baking soda and cream of wheat and dash of cinnamon).

The final step is gently folding the egg whites in by hand. (I don't have a picture of this because my mother works crazy fast and keeps forgetting that I'm trying to take pictures of it.)

Once everything is mixed together, pour the batter into a greased 9" by 13" pan and bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. It will be a beautiful dark gold when it's done.

Before we make the syrup, we want the cake to cool completely so let it cool for about 30 minutes before you start making the syrup.

To make the syrup, add the sugar water and lemon into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Adjust the temperature so that it maintains a soft rolling boil for about 10 minutes. It will thicken to the consistency of corn syrup.

Let it cool for about 5 minutes and then drizzle the warm syrup over the cool cake. Now this is the hard part - cover the cake with foil, put it aside and forget about it until the next day. It's tormenting, I know, but trust me on this. Once the syrup is absorbed by the spongy cake, it becomes absolutely divine.

Fast forward to the next day. You now have my permission to cut into this beauty.

Simple, sweet, moist, delicious. I hope you enjoy!

**This recipe was first posted in December, 2009.

Melomakarona

Melomakarona are a delicious little spice cookie that's dipped in a honey infused simple syrup and topped with chopped walnuts. Like the other recipes I'm posting this week, these are traditionally only made at Christmas. Greeks are quite particular about reserving certain dishes for specific events, which is sometimes quite unfortunate because I'm in love with a sweet dish that's only made for funerals and memorials and my mother refuses to teach me how to make it when our family gets together during the holidays. Even though she has a Ph.D., the superstitions of her homeland are still alive and well.

Alright, let's make these little guys. Our ingredients are:

1 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cognac o brandy

1/4 cup orange juice

3.5 cups flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of cloves

Syrup:

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 Tablespoons honey

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts for garnishing

Using a mixer, mix together the oil and sugar. Add in the cognac and the orange juice. In a separate measuring cup, mix together the baking soda,powder, cinnamon and cloves and add it to the mix. Now, slowly add in additional cups of flour until you can roll the dough into a seamless ball (without it cracking). I usually stop using the mixer at this point and start mixing by hand so that I can make sure to get the consistency right. This is the consistency and shape that we'll be making.

Truly, you can mold them into whatever shape you'd like, just make sure that they're all the same size. Of course, this is the traditional shape of the cookies in Greece and, you guessed it, the only shape that we make them here. Once they're all shaped, lightly score the tops with the flat top of a fork, which both slightly flattens them and makes criss-cross marks across the surface.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Just like yesterday's recipe, we're going to allow the cookies to cool completely before proceeding.

Once they're cool, let's put the simple syrup together. In a sauce pan, add in the sugar, water and honey and allow the mixture to softly boil for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat off of the syrup. Using tongs, we're going to drop in 5 cookies at a time, allow them to soak in they syrup for about 30 seconds, and then put them back on the cookie sheet.

After they've all been dipped, sprinkle the tops with the chopped walnuts. Using a ladle, spoon the remaining syrup on top of the cookies.

Like the other cookies, these are meant to get better as time passes so while you're definitely free to pop a couple into your mouth immediately, they'll be phenomenal the following day.

If you're serving these to others or taking them with you, put each cookie in a muffin liner and put a piece of wax paper in between each layer.

**This recipe was first posted in December, 2009.

Galaktoboureko

While Baklava is certainly the most famous of Greek desserts, it isn't necessarily the most beloved in Greece. A lot of my family prefer Galaktoboureko and with good reason. It is a creamy custard filling between butter sheets of flaky phyllo dough that is then doused in a simple syrup. Seriously, what's not to love?

While it may appear that there are a lot of steps in this recipe, please do not be intimidated by it. It comes together pretty easily and once you've done it the first time, it will take you half the time to do it on your second attempt. This dessert will make you look like a culinary pro and it is generally once of the first to go on Greek dessert tables. Did I mention that it's freaking fantastic? Okay, let's go for it. I generally have all of my ingredients pre-measured and ready to go before I turn on a single burner. It makes for a smoother process. Here's what you need:

For Custard:

3 cups milk

3/4 cup Cream of Wheat

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 Tbs. vanilla extract

1 Tbs. butter

To Assemble:

1 package of phyllo (2 packages are in the box)

2 stick melted butter

For Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/4 lemon (kept in a single piece)

1 Tbs. honey

The first thing that I do is to get the simple syrup going. Just add the sugar and water into a saucepan and bring it to a high simmer.

Add in the chunk of lemon and simmer for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. After 15 minutes, take it off the heat and stir in the honey until it dissolves.

Set it aside and allow the syrup to cool.

Next we're going to make the custard. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until combined, set aside.

In a large pan, heat the milk until it just starts to boil.

Add in the cream of wheat and whisk it together until it's incorporated. Reduce the heat to medium low.

Using a spoon or a ladle, add a small amount of the milk mixture to your bowl of egg yolks and whisk vigorously to combine.

After about 30 seconds, add in a little bit more of the milk mixture. What we're doing here is tempering the eggs and bringing them up to temperature so that they don't scramble when you add them to the pan. Keep adding milk to the eggs until you've added a cup or so and then add the entire contents of the bowl to the pan, whisking as you go.

Once it has all come together and thickened, add the vanilla and butter.

Now we're ready to assemble the dessert! Butter the bottom and sides of an 8x8 or a 9x9 inch pan. Then, take your entire stack of phyllo dough and cut it in half. With the first half of the dough, put a piece of phyllo into the pan and then brush the phyllo generously with butter (using your fingers to keep the phyllo still).

Brush each piece of phyllo with butter until you've added the entire 1/2 stack to the pan. Then, spoon all of the custard into the pan.

Finally, start adding the second stack of phyllo piece by piece and brushing each piece with butter until you've used up all of the butter.

Using a sharp knife, score the too half of the phyllo in whatever size squares you'd like (this will make cutting it easier after it's baked).

Bake the galaktoboureko in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the phyllo is a nice golden brown. Once it's done baking, allow it to cool to room temperature and, using your sharp knife, cut the pastry all the way to the bottom.

Finally, spoon the syrup over the top (making sure to get around all of the edges and in all of the cracks). Pop it in the fridge for an hour or so to allow for the syrup to be absorbed and to allow the custard to set.

Then, prepare to have the doors of heavenly Greek desserts opened wide for you because if you've made this, you're officially a Greek cook.